On paying college athletes
By Ryan Mayer, Special Writer
The pandemonium of another college basketball tournament.
The miraculous run of Shabazz Napier and the 7th-seeded UConn Huskies, and the devastating defeat of the Harrison twins and Kentucky’s modern-day fab five. The anticipation of the NFL Draft and the prospect of superstars like Johnny Manziel and Jadeveon Clowney. The immortal freshman season of Jameis Winston and the Florida State Seminoles.
College athletics are a spectacle for sports fans and the heroics of such young talents are unbelievable. Recently, however, there has been much talk about paying these athletes. The NCAA makes millions off of the athletes every season that many people argue that the students should be paid, either directly or through corporate endorsements. The superstars aforementioned are household names, and companies would love to use them to add to their profits. It is unethical, though, to enable these college athletes to be endorsers because it would take away from the very nature of college athletics.
It is important to first understand the nature of college athletics. The very nature is one filled with inspiration, motivation, and drive. Athletes work their tails off to be the best they can be to help their team win games. The nature is captivated by images of heartbreak when teams are eliminated from playoff competition, or of pure joy in victory over a bitter rival. The agony of defeat is the worst feeling imaginable, but the thrill of victory and the culmination of hard work are exhilarating.
Being a college athlete, I experience the daily grind of balancing school and sports; of trying to compete at peak performance, but also preparing for my life to come. I will never become a professional athlete, however. As a matter of fact, according to the NCAA, only 1.7% of college football players and 1.2% of college basketball players go on to play professionally. By enabling the household names like Johnny Manziel or Jameis Winston to be endorsers, barriers are created inside the sport that will erode the pureness of competition and drive.
These barriers between the “professional” college athletes and the other 98% who go on to work everyday jobs would have a negative impact within teams and amongst competitors. If one player is endorsing a sporting goods company like Nike and getting paid thousands of dollars, a disconnect is created between that player and his teammates. He is all of a sudden better, or perceived as such, because he gets paid to represent another company. It differs from the professional athletes because everyone is paid, although in varying amounts, for playing their respective sport, so the freedom to be endorsers is theirs to choose. In college, however, if only select athletes became endorsers, the purity of inspiration and motivation and drive toward victory is corrupted by an unequal and immoral system of rewards. The sport becomes less important and the lust for money takes over. Images of heartbreak are no longer that heartbreaking, and victory is no longer exhilarating.
Athletes are content with where they are at because they “earned it.” Athlete endorsers would take away from the very nature of college sports because they would shift the focus and mindset of the players and teams. Winning games and championships would suffer from the corruption that comes when the drive to compete is overtaken by competition for cash.
Playing a college sport is a once in a lifetime experience that is too often cut short already by the pursuit of money. It is a time, though, where bonds between teammates and coaches, memories of on-field and on-court battles are remembered, and the nausea of brutal practices are not forgotten. It is a time where sports are played to their fullest potential because of the pure love of the game! The phrase, “There is no ‘I’ in team” rings true to the majority of the athletes because for most, it is the last time they will be playing on the field or court or ice.
Being a college athlete is a unique and once-in-a-lifetime experience that should not be tainted by allowing athletes to endorse products or get paid for their performance. Players, fans, and coaches love the nature of college athletics, and it is unethical to take away from that. I want to see Johnny Manziel posing with the Heisman Trophy, not Johnny Manziel doing the Heisman pose in a Nike ad.